Push through or perfect?

Sander · Feb 7, 2012

I'm a writer who has trouble writing out of order. Therefor I usually start writing with page 1 and follow the book until the end. Lately I've been noticing some scenes aren't that great yet. Which sucks because I know the rest will be good.

Should I find a way to perfect that one soon or write a shabby version of it so I can push through and perfect it later?

I'm more inclined to do the first as it makes me feel less confident knowing I wrote a bad scene. But it delays me a lot. How should I handle this?

iRock · Feb 7, 2012

You won't get a definitive answer here, and that's okay. Some do just fine pushing through, while others, like me, perfect as they go.

There's no right or wrong - just what's right for you. Try both and see which helps you be more productive.

Devil Ledbetter · Feb 7, 2012

Push through. At most, if you hate a scene just color the text red and make a brief note about fixing or deleting it later. Then don't think about it again until the second draft.

You may find you don't even need that scene, so it's a waste of time to try to perfect a stupid, pointless or boring scene when you could get the job done with a spot of tell, tuck the crucial bits into another scene, or replace it with a scene that rocks.

You might want to fix it later, but you won't know for sure until you reach the end.

IMO, YMMV and all that.

HapiSofi · Feb 7, 2012

PUSH THROUGH! You can't know what's perfect until you know the book it's part of, and you won't know that until you get through the first draft.

Trying to perfect it as you go can lead to epicyclic rewrites, airless, overworked prose, and impossibly low productivity. (See also: Xeno's Paradox.)

If you don't believe me, take this question to Ask Uncle Jim and see what he says.

HapiSofi · Feb 7, 2012

Some people are natural first-draft writers. If you were one of those, you'd already know it.

Therefore:

Trying to perfect your first draft is like trying to perfect the art of being in labor.

Is that clearer?

DancingMaenid · Feb 7, 2012

You have to find what works for you. Like you, it's hard for me to write out of order, and I know exactly what you mean about wanting to get to the part you want to be writing.

Personally, I can't leave a scene too rough. I have to iron out any issues I can before I move on. But I'm okay with getting things just good enough to keep going, with the knowledge that I can fix stuff later.

BethS · Feb 7, 2012

HapiSofi said:
PUSH THROUGH! You can't know what's perfect until you know the book it's part of, and you won't know that until you get through the first draft.

Trying to perfect it as you go can lead to epicyclic rewrites, airless, overworked prose, and impossibly low productivity.

Or it can lead to some rich storytelling, while a rushed, sloppy scene can jump the tracks entirely.

Some scenes have hidden treasure: previously undiscovered characters, motives, and plot twists that open up whole new avenues in the story landscape. But it often takes a number of passes through a scene to mine that treasure. Once you have it, it can change everything that follows.

This is what works for me. Might not work for anyone else.

Lseeber · Feb 7, 2012

I also vote for pushing through. It might be painful in the short term, but it can really produce some good gems. Polishing will come later.

Laura

Jamesaritchie · Feb 7, 2012

Do whatever works for you. Some writers push through, but there is no advantage to this, except for the individual writer who can't work by perfecting along the way.

Many writers do rewrite and edit as they go. It works just as well as any other way.

The important thing is not to do either because anyone says you should. One way will work better for you than the other. Learn which way this is, and do it.

Sheila Muirenn · Feb 7, 2012

Edit as I go. Can't do the other way.

Often feel it would be advantageous, but: can't do it!

Silver-Midnight · Feb 7, 2012

I say push through. You can also edit it when you rewrite it. By then, the scene could flow a lot better than it is right now.

Logan! · Feb 7, 2012

If I'm really racking my brain over a scene, I skip it and write something else while my juices are still flowing. Then I'll come back to the scene after I've had more time to think about it/get inspired/whatever.

austen · Feb 7, 2012

I do a little of both. I tend to write fairly sparse on the first draft, so I know I'll add in more description and details in revisions. But if a scene is not working because there's a plot issue, I will usually revise before I go on.

gothicangel · Feb 8, 2012

Push through.

Which is quite interesting for me at the moment. Last night I edited a chapter that I thought was awful in the first draft, which now looks more like a diamond than coal. Interesting, because I then went and picked up the first draft of my new WIP, and thought 'this is crap, but it has potential. Get the first draft down, and we'll solve it in draft 2.'

Becky Black · Feb 8, 2012

Think of it like building a house. Would you lay the carpets and put up wallpaper before you'd put the roof on?

I always push on through, maybe making some notes about changes I'll make when editing, but continuing as if I'd already made those change. There are a couple of reasons I do this.

What if I spend ages editing a scene and then later decide the story doesn't need that scene at all? Either I've wasted my time, or worse, I'd be tempted to leave it in even though it doesn't fit, just because I did so much work on it.

What if as I continue writing some great new development comes to me, that would mean a load more rewriting of that scene I spent ages polishing? Again, I've either wasted precious time, or I'll be tempted to ignore the new idea because it means changing all the polishing work I already did.

Even though I outline the chances are that what I write later in a story will require changes to earlier parts, so if I polish a scene before writing later scenes I'd still have to change it again later.

Push through! Remember nobody else has to see the first draft except you if you don't want them to, so there's no need for it to be even close to perfect.

bearilou · Feb 8, 2012

iRock said:
There's no right or wrong - just what's right for you. Try both and see which helps you be more productive.

Key word here: productive.

If you find you are spending far more time trying to 'perfect' a scene to the detriment of getting any writing done, maybe you should skip. If you find you're more productive by working on it until smooth, then you should do that.

If you find in the course of writing that going back and trying to get the scene perfect that it ends up getting cut at a later time, that's a call you have to make about whether it was worth your time or not. It is, at least, something to consider.

Anjasa · Feb 8, 2012

I push through then fix things up as I edit. Otherwise I'd never get a sentance finshed.

jeffo20 · Feb 8, 2012

Jamesaritchie said:
Do whatever works for you...One way will work better for you than the other. Learn which way this is, and do it.

This.

For me, push through works better, because that allows me to get the story out, and then I can go back and make it better. If something is really bothering me to the point of distraction I may go back and change it, but I mostly just push on. You'll have to try it out and see what works best for you.

GFanthome · Feb 8, 2012

Definitely push through.

Draíocht · Feb 8, 2012

Each to their own. I tend to focus on one chapter at a time and try to complete it until I'm satisfied. If there's a short paragraph in the chapter that may be niggling at me, I might move on and return to it later, but if it's important to the overall plot or is a scene that you've been building up to, I would work on it until satisfied.

Phaeal · Feb 8, 2012

Push through. Until you have the whole body on the table, you can't do a proper autopsy and prepare for your next feat of necromancy.

dangerousbill · Feb 8, 2012

Sander said:
Should I find a way to perfect that one soon or write a shabby version of it so I can push through and perfect it later?

It's part of your personal writing technique. What works for someone else won't necessarily work for you. You have to experiment with it.

I'm currently trying the second method, bulling through to the end, after 15 years as an edit-as-I-go writer. It seems to be working, but I'm not at the rewrite stage yet, so the jury is still out.

Jonathan Dalar · Feb 8, 2012

Push through. Besides all the great advice so far, I'd add you might not even know all the story arcs and twists your plot will wind through until the end of the book. Many's the time I've come back to something already finished and added a lot of important aspects to a novel I only saw after I'd gotten the first draft out of the way.

Remember, a first draft is far, far from being the final outcome to a story. But you gotta get there first.

Buffysquirrel · Feb 8, 2012

I push through. Other writers don't find that works for them. Sometimes I reach a point where I know I can cast back and redraft. But I have to be careful, cos I can get blocked.

Deleted member 42 · Feb 8, 2012

Do whatever works for you.

Keep in mind that there's no expiration date on editing/revising.

Push through or perfect?

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